Violent thunderstorms and a line of tornadoes trashed Will County and southwestern Cook County on Saturday, but most of eastern Cook County and Indiana were spared the storm's fury. (Video) (Slideshow)
The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that a tornado touched down in Lansing, slicing briefly across Wentworth Avenue between 179th and 177th streets before dissolving near the state line. That tornado -- given the lowest possible wind speed rating by weather service meteorologists -- tipped a tree onto a car and threw branches into yards and streets.
Although the storm didn't deliver the destruction it wrought elsewhere, black clouds and ripping winds alarmed region residents Saturday. Schererville's Eric Ribble photographed a sinister black thunderhead as it rolled north Saturday night. Ribble -- an amateur weather watcher with degrees in meteorology -- judged the cloud as the remnants of a nasty storm that died before crossing the Indiana border.
"It definitely could have been a lot worse," Ribble said.
Munster's Arlene Kender took her husband to The Community Hospital in Munster to get stitches in a slashed finger just before the storms arrived. Kender was in a waiting room when the hospital intercom called a "code gray," the cable TV died and a security guard escorted everyone to a windowless interior room, she said. Kender stepped outside after the black storm clouds passed and continued floating north.
"Thank God it didn't touch down, but it was really scary," Kender said.
"It was a such a big black cloud."
NIPSCO crews restored power Saturday night to about 200 homes and businesses left powerless by the storms, said Mike Suggs, NIPSCO spokesman. Another round of storms Sunday left scattered outages, but crews restored power to those homes and businesses Sunday night, Suggs said.
About 18,000 ComEd customers across Illinois still were without power from storms Friday, Saturday and Sunday, ComEd spokeswoman Judy Rader said. Some homes and businesses in south suburban Chicago were still dark Sunday night from Saturday's storms, Rader said.
Dispatchers reported no blocked roads Sunday night, although downed power lines and felled branches blocked a few roads Sunday afternoon.
Rainfall totals from Saturday ranged from a tenth of an inch to an inch in the Chicago area, said Nathan Marsili, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Marsili said rain could return today and Friday.
Saturday's rains did not push the Kankakee River through its levees, and the rain likely will not drive the river much higher, said Jody Melton, head of the Kankakee River Basin Commission.
Cook and Lake counties remained under a tornado watch Sunday night.
In Sunday afternoon's clear, warm weather, Glenn Oppenhuis grilled a steak and garlic bread on his porch on 177th Place, which sat in the tornado's path Saturday. He watched on television as the storm approached Saturday, blasting southwestern Cook County before spending its strength in his neighborhood.
"I think it kind of died out," Oppenhuis said.
